Steam-engine.



No. 585,563. Fatemiv uct. 29, 190|.'

' n. n. BUTTS.

STEAM ENGINE.

(Applicationkd .Tune 5, 1901.)

(No Model.)

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No. 685,563. v

mu. Bons. STEAM ENGINE.

(Application led June 5, 1901.)

Patented Oct. 29; |90I.

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/N VE N 70H ROBERT HENRY BUTTS, OF RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA.

STEAM-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 685,563, dated October 29, 1901.

Application filed J' une 5, 1901. Serial No. 63,257. (No model.) i v To u/,ZZ wtont t may 00p/cern.-

Be it known that I, ROBERT HENRY Borre, formerly of Albuquerque, Bernalillo county, Territory of New Mexico, but now of Rich.- mond, Contra Costa county, California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Steam-Engines, of which the following is a speciication.

The object of my invention is tolprovide a very light and simple form of steam-engine designed primarily to be used on an air-ship, for which I have tiled a separate application, Serial No. 56,109, dated April 16, 1901, but which engine is applicable also to any uses for which a steam-engine may be employed.

It consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of the piston and cylinder and the valves in the piston and also the general arrangement of these parts in relation to the induction and exhaust pipes and the driven gears, as will be hereinafter fully described with reference to the drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section through the engine cylinder and piston and showing their relation to the driven gears and the iuduc tion and exhaust pipes. Fig. 2 is a sectional View of the piston and cylinder, showing a different position of the said cylinder-piston and valves. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section through the cut-'off valve, and Fig. 5 is a section at right angles thereto on line 5 5 of Fig. 4t.

E L L L2 is a framework so constructed as to accommodate two engines one on each side of the central standard E. Each engine consists of a cylinder D, which both reciprocates and oscillates, and a two-compartment piston d3 d, which oscillates about an axis below, but does not reciprocate. Thispiston has two hollow piston-rods d2 dl, opening, respectively, into the two compartments d3 d6 of the piston and connecting below to the pipes CZ d, which rock in stufiing-boxes CZ and d8 and have a partition d10 between the two hollow piston-rods d2 dT. d4 (Z5, with suitable openings in them, slide in the chambers d3 d6 of the piston 'and alternately open these chambers to the cylinder on opposite sides of the piston, the tubular Valves being shifted by impact against the heads of the cylinders. Steam comes through the pipes c from the boiler to steam-chest c Tubular valves vand passes jin pipe CIZ to hollow piston-rod d2 into chamber da, and `thence by 'valve d4 to one sidev or the other of the piston and es.-

capes through valve d5, chamber d, and hollow piston-redit7 to exhaust-pipe d". This Amakes a very simple and self-contained engine well adapted to an air-ship. `-The cylinder D as it reci procates is connected by'straps e e with the crank-shaft e' and turns it with its attached bevel gear-wheel g. `Thislatter is in mesh below with a bevel-gearh, rigidly connected to a hollow shaft h', and at the upper side said gear-wheel g meshes with bevelgear il, rigidly connected to a concentric hollow shaft These two hollow shafts h" and t" are connected to and made to rotate two concentric propeller-wheels in my air-ship, which turn inopposite directions, so that the .rotary twist of one on the air-ship may be balanced bythe other. I wish it understood,

however, that my steam-engine may be used either singly or in pairs.

In explaining more in detail the exact action of the valves I would state that each tubular valve d* and d5 has its ends closed and has also a partition in its middle. On onelside of this partition the valve d4 hastwo openings 1 2, and on the other side it has two openings 3 4. The other valve d5 has corresponding openings 5 6 and 7 8. A Each of these pairs of openings has the two openings so spaced as'to have in one position of the valve one opening ofy each pair on one side of. the thickness of the piston-wall and the other opening on the other side, so as to establish communication between the chambers in the piston and the chamber of the cylinder. In another position of the valves one of these openings of each pair passes into the plane of the thickness of the wall of the piston and is closed thereby. The operation of these valves is as follows: In Fig. 1 the cylinder has reached its highest point and has struck the lower ends of the valves and lifted them to the position shown, readyto bring down the cylinder. Steam now comes from steamchest c and pipe d to hollow piston-rod d2 and piston-chamber d3 and passes by ports 3 and 4 tothe lower end of the cylinder to bring it down, the upper ports 1 and 2 being out of action, for the reason that 2 is closed in the wall of the piston. At the same time the steam above the piston passes by ports 5 IOO and 6 to piston-chamber d and hollow piston-rod (Z7 to exhaust-pipe d. After the cylinder descends its upper head strikes the tops of the valves and shifts them to the position shown in Fig. 2.` The live steam now passes from hollow piston-rod cl2 to chamber d3 and ports 1 2 to the top of the piston again, ready to lift the cylinder, and the exhauststeam below the piston passes outports 7 8 to the hollow piston-rod d? and the exhaust. To limit the throw of the valves, collars a a are fastened to valve-tube d", and similar collars l) b are fastened to the valve-tube d5. These valves slide with sufficient friction in their seats to maintain the position to which they are adjusted by impact with the heads of the cylinder.

In lny engine it will be secu that while the cylinder, piston, and valves all move the inlet and exhaust con neet-ions remain stationary, the pipes d Z9 rocking in stuffing-box (Z at the inlet-point and in stuffing-box d8 at the exhaust-point. Beside the stuffing-box (Z and in the steam-chest c there is a cut-oit valve which is operated by the rocking of the pipes CZ' d, as will now be described with reference to Figs. 4 and 5. The end of the pipe d' which enters the steam-chest c has attached to it a pin c, extending upwardly at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the pipe d. On a shoulder in the steam-chest is arranged a perforated washer or bearingplate c5, held firmly by a screw c7. On the bearing-plate is arranged a valve-plate c3, having on its under side a dovetail Valveslide c4. Both the valve-slide c'L and valveplate c3 have slots through them, the plate c3 having slot p and the valve-slide c4 having slot p2, which two slots form steamports which are in registration or out of registration according to the position of slide c4 in relation to plate c3. To work the slide c4, the pin cG on the end of pipe d' extends up through the washer-plate c5 and into the slot p2 of slide c", and as the pipe di rocks in its stuffing-box it regulates the opening and closing of the ports p2 p to eifect the cut-off. The top of the steam-chest is closed by a screw-cap c2, and through the screw-cap the supply-pipe c opens and delivers steam from the boiler. The relation between the ports 19 and p2 and the pin cG is such that when the cylinder is at its highest or lowest points the pin cG is in the position shown in Fig. 5 and admits steam to either end of the cylinder, and when the cylinder has ascended or descended half-way its stroke and stands at an angle to the vertical the opening in slide c4 is thrown out of registration with that in c3 and steam is cut off at half the stroke. \The steam passes from pipe c through ports p and p2 to the open end of pipe d inthe steamchest and thence to the cylinder and its valves, as heretofore described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. A steam engine comprising a crankshaft, a cylinder connected directly to the crank-shaft, a non-reciprocating piston with valves arranged in the cylinder, hollow piston-rods connecting therewith and forming induction and exhaust pipes, and right-angular connections for said-pipes, and stationary stuffing-boxes forming axes 0f oscillation substantiallyas and for the purpose described.

2. A steam engine comprising a crankshaft, a cylinder connected directly to the crank-shaft, a non-reciprocating piston with Valves arranged in the cylinder, hollow piston-rods connecting therewith and forming induction and exhaust pipes, a pipe at right angles to'said hollow piston-rods and connected therewith and having a partition between the points of connection, a stationarystuffingbox at one end'of said pipe in communication with the live-steam supply, and a stationary stuffing-box at the other end of said pipe in communication with the exhaust substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. The combination with a cylinder; of ,a relatively stationary piston having two chambers therein and hollow piston-rods com municating therewith, and two sliding valves arranged respectively in the piston-chamber and extending through the piston and having each four ports adapted to alternately open communication between the piston-chambers and the opposite ends of the cylinder substantially as described.

4. The combination with a cylinder; of a relatively stationary piston having two chainbers therein, and hollow piston-rods com municating therewith, and two tubular valves having each closed ends and a middle partition and four ports and stop-collars, said valves projecting through both sides of the piston to be acted upon by contact with the cylinderheads substantially as described.

5. A steam-engine comprising a crank, a movable cylinder connected to the crank, a non-reciprocating piston arranged in the cylinderand having valves as described, two hollow piston-rods connected to the piston, a hollow rock-shaf t attached to the piston-rods and entering the steam-chest, and a stufng-box, steam-chest, and cut-od valve arranged in the steam-chest and operated by the rocking of said hollow shaft substantially as described.

6. Thecombination of a rocking steam-pipe having a right-angularly-projecting pin, a steam-chest with stuiiing-box inclosing said rocking pipe, a perforated bearing plate through which the said pin projects, a valve composed of a stationary plate with port through it, and a sliding section with port through it receiving the pin and adapted to register with the port above it, a closing-cap for the steam-chest, and a steam-supply pipe substantially as shown and described.

ROBERT HENRY BO'ITS.

Witnesses:

GEO. M. YOUNG, C. A. ODELL.

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